Kraddick programming to include remembrances

Staff and wire reports

Updated 6:35 am, Monday, July 29, 2013

Video: Radio host 'Kidd' Kraddick dead at 53

Radio host 'Kidd' Kraddick dead at 53

Media: San Francisco Chronicle

Listeners tuning in to the “Kidd Kraddick in the Morning” show Monday will hear past highlights and recollections from the program's crew when the popular radio broadcast returns following host David “Kidd” Kraddick's death Saturday, his publicist said.

Kraddick, the radio and TV personality whose show was syndicated on dozens of U.S. radio stations, died at a charity golf event near New Orleans Saturday at 53. The show is aired locally on Mix 96.1 weekdays from 5 to 10 a.m. He also was part of a television program — “Dish Nation” — that airs in San Antonio Mondays through Friday at 10 p.m. on CW affiliate KMYS.

The show's long-term outlook isn't clear, publicist Ladd Biro said, and fans on Sunday wondered who could replace the man they had woken up to for years.

He was a “very humble, sincere kind of guy, and it breaks my heart to hear of his passing,” former San Antonio radio personality Dominique Garcia said on Facebook. “He never struck me as someone who was unapproachable and never once did I ever see him be rude or mean. He was just a normal person.”

“I don't think anyone can fill his shoes,” said San Antonio listener Lisa Wilkinson Owen. “He was one of a kind. So caring. Mornings will not be the same.”

Kidd Kraddick is the host of Kidd Kraddick in the Morning syndicated radio show at his Las Colinas, Texas, studio, Wednesday, October 26, 2011. Kraddick died Saturday, July 27, 2013, while attending a charity event in New Orleans. He was 53. (AP Photo/Star-Telegram, Rodger Mallison) less

Kidd Kraddick is the host of Kidd Kraddick in the Morning syndicated radio show at his Las Colinas, Texas, studio, Wednesday, October 26, 2011. Kraddick died Saturday, July 27, 2013, while attending a charity ... more

Photo: Rodger Mallison, Associated Press

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Radio personality Kidd Kraddick

Radio personality Kidd Kraddick

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Kraddick programming to include remembrances

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The high-octane radio and TV host heard on dozens of U.S. radio stations, died at a charity golf event near New Orleans, a publicist said. Kraddick was 53.

The Texas-based radio and television personality, whose program is syndicated by YEA Networks, died at his Kidd's Kids charity function in the New Orleans suburb of Gretna on Saturday, said publicist Ladd Biro in releasing a network statement.

"He died doing what he loved," said Biro, of the public relations firm Champion Management, speaking with AP by phone early Sunday. He said he had no further details on the death.

Fans left flowers and condolences written on signs left outside his Dallas-area studio.

The website of Kraddick's flagship station KHKS, known as KISS-FM, featured his photo Sunday and remembrances of his career. Fans left online comments such as "morning drive to work in the Dallas traffic will not be the same with out your voice."

"I don't know why his death is affecting me like this. I never met Kidd in person, but I have 'known' him for 15 years or more. He has brought a smile to my face every morning," Tasha Gillespie Sigler wrote Sunday on the Kidd's Kids Facebook page.

"It amazes me how someone you don't even know can become a part of your family," Holly J Smith wrote. She also wrote that "prayers abound for his family, his work family, and for my fellow Kidd Kraddick listening family."

The "Kidd Kraddick in the Morning" show is heard on more than 75 Top 40 and Hot AC radio stations and is a leader among most-listened-to contemporary morning programs, Biro said. The radio program also is transmitted globally on American Forces Radio Network while the show's cast is also seen weeknights on the nationally syndicated TV show "Dish Nation," he added.

"All of us with YEA Networks and the "Kidd Kraddick in the Morning" crew are heartbroken over the loss of our dear friend and leader," the network statement said. "Kidd devoted his life to making people smile every morning, and for 21 years his foundation has been dedicated to bringing joy to thousands of chronically and terminally ill children."

"He died doing what he loved, and his final day was spent selflessly focused on those special children that meant the world to him," it added.

The Dallas Morning News reported Kraddick had been a staple in the Dallas market since 1984, starting in a late-night debut. The newspaper said he moved into morning show work by the early 1990s in that market and his show began to gain wider acclaim and entered into syndication by 2001 as he gained a following in cities nationwide.

Kraddick would have turned 54 on Aug. 22, according to Biro.

The network statement said the cause of death would be released "at the appropriate time."

Many fans, celebrities included, tweeted condolences and talked about the death on social media sites. One Texas radio station where he was a mainstay ran photographs on its website of Kraddick at the microphone.

Word of Kraddick's passing spread quickly via social media.

"RIP Kidd Kraddick. You were an amazing man and a friend. You are already missed," Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tweeted.

Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, only recently announced as the headline act of a planned first-ever Kidd's Kids charity concert in Dallas next month, wrote: "The sad sad news about Kidd Kraddick is shocking. He will be missed greatly."

Richie Tomblin, described as the head golf professional at the Timberlane Country Club in Gretna on its website, told AP that Kraddick wasn't looking well when he saw him getting ready for Saturday's charity event.

"He came out and he borrowed my golf clubs and went out to the driving range," Tomblin told AP when contacted by phone. "It's kind of a freaky situation. He came out. He practiced a little bit. He hit the ball at the first tee and wasn't feeling good and after that I didn't see him."

Tomblin said the hundreds of amateur golfers taking part went ahead with the event Saturday. He added he only found out afterward that Kraddick had died and he was still shaken about it.